


Doki Doki DD

by LexiTheDoubleedge



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Canon-Typical Mind Manipulation, F/F, Futanari, Genderbending, Porn With Plot, Probably more plot than porn actually, Transformation, Transformation and genderbending are consensual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:27:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23906179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiTheDoubleedge/pseuds/LexiTheDoubleedge
Summary: Frustrated with her inability to make a connection with the player, Monika edits Sayori's character file to make her more depressed. And at first, it seems to be working. Sayori is spending all of her time with Natsuki, and two rivals for the protagonist's (and thus the player's) attention are out of the way.Then she discovers the side effects.And that she may not be the only one making changes to the other club members...
Relationships: Natsuki/Sayori (Doki Doki Literature Club!), Protagonist (Doki Doki Literature Club!)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 50





	1. Distracting Desire

**Author's Note:**

> This is labelled "DDLC/CYOAs" because there will be multiple ones in play over the course of the story. Which ones? Now _that_ would be telling. I will say that some are inherently NSFW, and none of them are ones I've written things with before.
> 
> Also, while I'm not using the [Reality Engineer](https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/general-qq-cyoa-thread.1263/page-1147#post-2717009) Meta-CYOA directly, some of it's effects are in play, most notably "Toggle", "Middle Ground", and "Lower Ground". Wait, that last one isn't in there? It's basically the inverse of "Higher Ground" - weaker options for lower costs/gains. (This was done more for story purposes than for optimization - finding something to do with extra points was already a problem in one case.) Everything should still be basically recognizable as derived from it's source.
> 
> Furthermore, I've emphasized "makes sense given the worldbuilding" over "hypothetical game balance" when determining how certain things work that were left unclear in the original CYOA or made unclear when I stapled two different ones together...

**Playthrough 1 - Wednesday Night**

This might be the most difficult thing Monika had ever done in her life.

When she'd realized the truth of this world, her first instinct was to play along, and try to get the player's attention gradually. But the frustration and fear were beginning to mount. The early days of the game were critical, and so far it looked like 'first girl wins' was fully in effect. The player had made an obvious effort to get Sayori's event, not to mention taking her 'side' after that stupid argument today. An argument with obvious subtext suggesting that Natsuki and Yuri were also interested, at that.

Monika, in the meantime, had barely been given a chance to even talk to Chris. The poem game didn't even give her a chance.

(Seriously, Chris? That was even more out of place than her own name for a game that was nominally set in Japan. What was the player thinking?)

Even though she hadn't been trying to make waves, she hadn't been sitting idly by either. She'd spent whatever time she could exploring the nature of the unreality she'd realized she was in and making tools to aid her in maniuplating it. So the technical aspects of her plan would be relatively straightforward, and the idea was simple enough as well.

Change Sayori's personality to drive the player away from her. And the other club members, if necessary.

Easy. In principle.

Not so easy when every time she closed her eyes, she remembered the good times she'd had with her friends. Even though none of it had been real, it still felt real in her memories. Memories that were clearer and more detailed than anything she remembered that didn't involve the other club members.

And so what should have been easy... wasn't.

But she couldn't wait any longer. So she hardened her heart, and did what had to be done.

**> CharHelper(SAYORI).setAttribute("Depression", 6)  
sayori.chr: Setting Depression to 6.  
OK.**

***

Monika was, in all actuality, a pretty good programmer for a newcomer to the field. Her code turned the lengthy and tedious process of editing a character file into a one-line command, and did so in a reasonably robust way, checking for a number of common error conditions and either handling them or reporting the problem.

A less skilled programmer would have left out error handling entirely, while a more skilled one might have noticed and corrected the flaw in that part of her code, even though the particular set of circumstances that would trigger it seemed unlikely at best.

Today, at least, everything followed the paths Monika had predicted, and the game obligingly raised Sayori's depression level.

***

Monika had ended up with a study hall between her last proper class of the day and club time on Thursdays, which she'd been using to practice the piano. Overall, she was pretty happy with her progress, and was even considering writing a song of her own.

The one downside was that, as had happened today, she could get so wrapped up in what she was doing that she missed the time to go to the club.

She wasn't late enough to start running for the clubroom though, which was only part of why she was startled when Yuri did run past her... going -away- from the clubroom. What was that about? She didn't think she'd ever seen the other girl moving that fast before.

Maybe she had to go to the bathroom or something.

***

When Monika got to the clubroom, she was unsurprised to find that Sayori and Natsuki had beaten her there. Natsuki was fussing with a volume of some manga that Monika didn't recognize, an irritated look on her face, while Sayori cleaned up some snack wrappers.

And that was it. She wasn't surprised that Yuri hadn't beaten her to the clubroom, but wasn't their newest member supposed to be more punctual than this?

Both of the others gave her really strange looks, before Sayori asked "Hey, Monika, did you see Yuri before you came back in?"

"I went past her on my way here," Monika replied. "So I don't think she'll be much longer."

Wait. Had she heard that correctly?

"No sign of Chris though," she added.

"Oh, he overslept this morning and missed most of first period. So he had to go see the teacher after classes," Sayori replied, looking much more comfortable for some reason.

Monika heard a sigh from behind her. "Did you really have to tell everyone about that?" Chris asked. He must have just walked in, since she hadn't closed the door.

"But it's so unlike you!" Sayori exclaimed.

Monika was starting to wonder if she'd done something wrong. She knew Sayori had been hiding her depression, which had been relatively mild before. Would making it stronger make her come across as perhaps even more exuberant? "I've been wondering what happened all day!"

"I have to admit, I'm curious too," Monika said.

Chris just sighed again.

***

They had yet to get a real answer out of Chris by the time Yuri poked her head in the door. "A-am I the last to arrive?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it," Monika reassured her. It was a bit later than usual, but not enough to be a problem.

"Being late isn't like Yuri either..." mused Sayori. "Did something happen that kept you away too?"

Yuri just stared at Sayori for a moment before blurting out "I had something I needed to do, that's all!"

Sayori looked like she was going to ask for more details, but Natsuki interrupted her. "Come on, Sayori, it's not that important." Sayori didn't quite look like she agreed, but shrugged and seemed to drop it.

"Thank you," Yuri said as she dropped into her seat, still looking a bit embarrassed.

***

"Hey, Natsuki!" Sayori called out, startling Monika. "I'm gonna go get some supplies from another classroom. Want to come with me?"

That immediately got Monika's full attention. She knew that the player had gone for Sayori again in the poem game, so she should be having another scene with Chris now. But she was trying to get Natsuki to go with her instead...

"Supplies, huh?" Natsuki replied, sounding uninterested. Then she looked up at Sayori, and apparently saw something that got her attention. "Supplies? Uh, sure, let's go do that!"

And the two left the room.

Monika didn't really understand what had just happened, but she also didn't really care. Sayori had just taken herself and Natsuki off of the field, which meant that now Chris would...

... Go read with Yuri.

Monika sighed. Oh well, it was still progress. Maybe she should try the same thing with Yuri tonight.

***

Natsuki and Sayori both looked pleased with themselves when they got back to the clubroom. They must have gotten a pretty good haul.

Poem sharing didn't really tell Monika much except to confirm that the player's 'poem' should have been average at best by Yuri's standards. That just meant she was more confident that things were working with Sayori, even if she didn't understand why.

So after school, she repeated what she'd done with Yuri.

**> CharHelper(YURI).setAttribute("Depression", 6)  
yuri.chr: Setting Depression to 6.**

Nothing happened.

**OK.**

But Monika didn't know that.

***

Friday everyone had made it to the club without incident, though Chris looked like he hadn't been sleeping very well. Sayori and Natsuki had pulled a couple of chairs together at one desk and were reading a manga together. Monika couldn't hear what they were whispering about, but it must have been pretty good from the way they were laughing.

Chris ended up with Yuri again, helping her make tea before reading together again. Though Monika noticed he was giving Yuri some really odd looks after they got the tea ready, and they didn't seem quite as close as they had been the day before.

The real surprise came when they were discussing the festival preparations.

***

"But anyway... that just leaves you, Chris," Monika said.

"The one who is truly useless," he replied. Ugh, that self-deprecating side of him was so annoying.

"Hey, don't put yourself down like that," Sayori protested. "There's lots of things you're good at."

Chris just shrugged in response.

"Anyway..." Monika repeated a bit more loudly, "both Natsuki and Yuri have some pretty heavy tasks to handle. It would probably go a long way to give one of them a hand. You could always help me out as well... I would really appreciate that."

"I have... prior obligations this weekend," Yuri noted. "I shouldn't have any trouble getting my part done in between things, but there probably won't be a good time for someone else to come over and help."

"Well, I guess that just leaves-" Monika got out before being cut off by Sayori.

"Actually, Monika? I know we'd already planned this part, but... would it be all right if I helped Natsuki with the cupcakes and Chris helped you with the pamphlets instead?" she asked.

Monika forced herself not to stare in shock. She'd been hoping to get some events of her own with the main character, so that she could try to make a connection with the player, but to have this just handed to her was more than she'd dreamed of. "That's all right with me," she said.

"Do I get a choice in this?" Chris asked.

"Nope," Natsuki replied.

"Ehehe... sorry," Sayori added.

"I wish I could give options here," Monika said, lying through her teeth, "but it looks like this is the best way to divide everyone up."

Chris sighed, though he didn't sound too unhappy. "All right, I'll do it."

"Okay, now that that's settled... there's nothing more for today. So I guess it's time for us to head out."

"Come on, Sayori, let's go!" Natsuki said as she grabbed Sayori's hand and nearly dragged her out of the room.

"Hey, don't pull so hard!" Sayori protested, but she was laughing as she went.

"I should hurry as well," Yuri noted as she grabbed her things. "Monika, Chris, I'll see you on Monday."

And then it was just the two of them left, Chris looking out the door with a slightly bemused expression.

After a moment he turned to Monika and asked "Have Natsuki and Sayori always been that close? I only met Natsuki this week, but I don't think Sayori ever mentioned her to me before..."

"No," Monika replied. "This is a recent development. I don't know exactly what brought them closer together, but they seem happy, so..." Monika shrugged. She really didn't understand what was going on with those two, but them being happy while still staying out of her way was pretty much the perfect outcome for her.

"Huh... So, how are we doing this?" Chris asked.

"It's probably easiest if you come over to my apartment," Monika replied. "I already have everything we need there, after all."

Chris seemed shocked. "Ah... is that really okay?"

"Of course. I invited you, didn't I?" Monika dug into her bag and pulled out a pen. "Here, I'll write down my address for you..."

***

"So, you live by yourself, Monika?" Chris asked.

Monika nodded. "My parents live too far away from the school they wanted me to go to, so they found this place for me to live. It's a bit small, but I'm used to it."

"I see," Chris replied.

From a storytelling perspective this probably seemed like a nice arrangement - it got her parents out of the way, but without being a potential source of drama or interest like her parents being dead, or living with an aunt or uncle, or something. Perfect for a side character, she thought bitterly.

"Well, come on in. I have everything set up in the front room." This was laid out as part living room and part home office, so her computer was already there, and there was a low table with what was left of the art supplies that Sayori had gathered. It should be enough.

It didn't strike Monika as a very Japanese kind of arrangement, but what was one more anachronism?

***

Monika wasn't sure what to expect of spending this much time alone with Chris. It may be the player she was interested in, but she still had to deal with the main character after all.

It turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant experience.

"You never mentioned being this good an artist, Chris," Monika said.

"Eh... I'm not really that good," he replied, a bit embarrassed. "Sayori and I did spend a lot of time drawing together as we grew up, so I guess we'd both naturally get better at it over time. My drawings don't really match hers though."

"No, it's good that you have your own style," Monika reassured him. "We're trying to catch people's eye and get them to check out the event, so having a variety will help us reach a wider audience."

Privately, Monika wasn't sure it was actually possible for the literature club to get more members, or if she even wanted it to for that matter. There shouldn't be any risk of them being romantic options though, so she was going to give it a shot.

"Mm. I guess you're right," Chris said, before wincing and rubbing his forehead.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine, I just haven't been sleeping well these past few days. I've been having the strangest dreams..."

That must be why he'd been late that one day. "Well, you can take a rest for now if you want. It'll take me a little while to scan this and get it put in place." She paused for a moment before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?

Chris shifted over to one of the more comfortable chairs and leaned back with a sigh, his eyes slipping closed. "I hope this doesn't come across as too weird, but... there's this girl with a blue baseball cap, and we're playing in a forest."

"Oh?" There was one obvious explanation for a boy his age having regular dreams about a girl, but she'd reserve judgement for now.

"Well, she always says we're 'exploring', but it's obviously in a park, there's paths and rest areas and stuff. But the part that's throwing me off is that when I'm dreaming I'm sure I've known her for years, at least as long as I've known Sayori. And we're both younger in some of the dreams, even. But when I'm awake, I can't remember knowing anyone who looked like her. I don't even remember her name."

"Huh, I can understand how you'd find that disquieting." It was actually surprisingly relatable. She hadn't had dreams about them, but there were things she thought she remembered that had gaps in the details like that. Parts of her backstory that had never really happened, so some parts were just fuzzed out.

"Do you ever have dreams like that, Monika?" Chris asked.

She was about to say no, but then she realized this was an opportunity to provide a hint to the player. "Not like that, but... Sometimes I dream that I'm in bed about to fall asleep, when a giant hand lifts the roof off of my home and starts moving things around. And then, when I go out, other buildings are in different places or have things rearranged inside of them. But everyone I talk to acts like it's normal, that everything has always been like that."

Chris opened his eyes and looked straight at her. "That doesn't sound like a strange dream, that sounds like a full-blown nightmare."

"Ah... I suppose maybe it is." You don't know the half of it, Monika thought.

***

The day of the festival had arrived, and Monika was on her way to the clubroom to meet up with the others and get everything set up. But when she was almost there, she heard something peculiar.

"But we don't have enough time, everyone else is supposed to be here soon," Sayori said. Or at least it sounded like Sayori, even if it was surprisingly early for her to have arrived.

"Come on, Sayori," Natsuki replied, confirming the identity of the first speaker in the process. "I need more."

Sayori laughed. "I don't believe that, but..." They must have moved away from the door at that point, because Monika couldn't hear anything else.

What was going on in there? Monika chided herself for pointless eavesdropping before stepping forward and opening the door.

At which point she found herself unable to do anything but stare in shock.

Sayori gasped. "Hi Monika! D-did you change your mind about joining us?" She was leaning against the opposite wall, her skirt hiked up, apparently entirely unconcerned about her new audience.

Natsuki pulled her head out from between Sayori's thighs. "Yeah, it's rude to just watch, either get over here or go back outside for a few more minutes."

Either... what?

Monika panicked.

This wasn't that kind of game!  
Was it?  
Shouldn't she have known if it was?  
Was the player even old enough?  
What would this actually look like to them?  
How would the player react?  
Had her changes done this?  
But how did...  
No, Chris should be showing up any time now!  
But if the player...  
No, she couldn't take any chances!

**> delete_all_saves()  
>renpy.full_restart(transition=None, label="splashscreen")**

The game restarted.

**> CharHelper(SAYORI).restoreAttribute("Depression")  
sayori.chr: Restoring Depression to default value.  
OK.**

Nothing happened.

**> CharHelper(YURI).restoreAttribute("Depression")  
** **yuri.chr: Restoring Depression to default value.**  
**OK.**

But Monika still didn't know that.

**Decreased Demands**

_There was a post-it note stuck partway into the book._

_"The rules say I have to give you the entire book so you're getting the entire book. But your situation is different, so you don't have to do most of this stuff."_

_"First, hold the gem in your right hand and say 'VALIDATE'. If it glows steadily for five seconds, you're good. Otherwise, check the table at the end of chapter four for your error code, but just saying? You probably made a math error. That's 'fast blinking'."_

_"Chapter 5 and everything past it you can just skip entirely. Instead, hold the gem in your left hand and say either 'RUN' or 'INSTALL' - 'RUN' if you chose the normal version, and 'INSTALL' if you..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Setting Depression to 6 - My interpretation for purposes of this story is that Monika increased Sayori's depression in two stages, the second because the first didn't seem to be working.
> 
> Error handling - having your code to deal with errors introduce it's own errors may or may not be based on my own experiences programming...
> 
> study hall - I'd forgotten that Monika mentioned this in the game when I wrote this, but it didn't really change anything.
> 
> apartment - I was somewhat inspired by Haruna Sairenji's living arrangements when writing this part, though Haruna lives with a relative, not by herself.
> 
> delete_all_saves() - A real command used by DDLC, as is the restart one.


	2. Discussing Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized a couple days ago that if I stick to putting one of these 'flash' segments per chapter, I won't be able to get them all out as soon as I want them to.
> 
> (I call them 'flash' rather than 'flashback, because they haven't all happened yet.)
> 
> So you get a chapter that's all those now.
> 
> I promise next chapter will have some actual porn. (But that's part of what makes it harder to write...)

**Dynamic Disrupter**

_"I'm honestly surprised at some of the choices you've made."_

_"Why? Come on, look at me, I can... above my head, this is awesome!"_

_"Not -that- part, I think half the people I talk to choose... What I don't understand is why you picked someone boring like her?"_

_"Hey! Who're you calling boring!"_

_"...isn't boring. As to why... I think you know."_

_"It's not that simple. Time isn't quite normal around... if you'd chosen differently today, things would have been different yesterday."_

_"My head hurts."_

_"Reversed causality does that. Now, was there anything else before you go?"_

_"Yeah, I've got a question! It's not that I... but I'm straight!"_

_"Seriously? After..."_

_"Okay, but... but... I like dicks!"_

_"That, I buy. I can't believe you just said that, but I can buy it."_

_"Is that all? I think I can suggest a suitable compromise..."_

**Dusk Denied**

_"Huh? I'm not! I don't...!"_

_"Well..."_

_"Sometimes..."_

_"Sometimes it helps me forget for a while..."_

_"Maybe if I..."_

_"Maybe someone would..."_

_"Then maybe I wouldn't..."_

_"...energetic? After all, there's nothing about my..."_

**Deliciousness Dictating**

_"Huh? You're not a... awww, but mom said I had to ask you! Uuuuuu~"_

_"What? You will?"_

_"Yay! Okay, do you want..."_

_"... Huh?"_

_"You want to pet my..."_

_"Uh... I guess it's all right... Just be gentle, they're really sensitive!"_

_"..."_

_"...fueeee..."_

_"you're... you're really good at this, big sister..."_

_"hah..."_

_"Big sister? I didn't mention it before, but there's another way I can... it's more work for both of us, but mom said I should offer if I found someone I really liked, and it means you can..."_

**Dawn Derided**

_"Hahahaha! This is ridiculous! I can't believe anyone would actually..."_

_"Although... sounds useful."_

_"And... would be cool."_

_"I'll just figure it out for fun, okay? It's not like it's actually going to..."_

_"What the hell?! Ugh, who came up with this? What's the point of food if you don't... Gah!"_

_"Not thinking about that. Huh, how about... anywhere I go."_

_"Damn, I'm out of points. Okay... seems easy enough to deal with."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"... and nothing happened."_

_"Of course, nothing happened, since... only an idiot would believe..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You now have all the clues you need to determine all but one of the CYOAs in use for this story.
> 
> Okay, probably not, but there are clues here.


	3. Deliriously Dreaming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we begin, a minor programming note: I've edited the first chapter to change MC's name from "Carl" to "Chris". I realize this will ruin my ability to give MC a different name in every story where I give them one at all, but the problem is, I really don't like that name, and that overrides any other plans I had when I chose it.

**Playthrough 1 - Thursday**

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Sayori woke up bright and early. Getting out of bed wasn't a chore she wasn't sure she could manage, but an urgent need to get out there and face the world.

If there was a word for how she was feeling, it was 'fantastic', and if there were two words, she didn't care enough to try and figure out what the other one was, because she was too busy enjoying it.

After making (and quickly devouring) a nice big breakfast, she was out the door, ready to get to school with plenty of time before the opening bell.

If she could keep this mood up, she'd be unstoppable.

***

By that afternoon, Sayori found herself feeling distinctly stopped.

Her depression, at least, had not reasserted itself. No, rather than her head, it was her stomach that was the problem. Most days she wanted a snack after class, but today she was feeling absolutely ravenous, almost like she hadn't eaten at all that day. And she had! Breakfast and lunch had both been great!

But wondering about it wasn't making her tummy feel any better. She'd just have to get a snack on the way to the club.

She may have gone a bit overboard.

***

Natsuki gaped at Sayori when the other girl came into the clubroom. "What's with all -that-?" she asked.

Sayori looked down at the veritable pile of snacks in her arms and blinked. Somehow she hadn't realized she'd bought that much before now. "Ehehe... I'm really hungry, so I guess I bought something from every vending machine I went past."

"You must have gone past a lot of vending machines," Natsuki observed dryly.

"... Maybe more than one thing," Sayori admitted as she set her haul down, selecting a package of crackers to consume.

... To consume first.

She was just about finished with the crackers and was contemplating a small package of frosted doughnuts when she realized that Natsuki hadn't replied, even if it was just to needle her a bit more. She looked over and saw that the smaller girl was shrunk down at her desk, arms wrapped tightly around her body.

"Natsuki?" she asked after swallowing the last cracker. "Are you all right?"

"Nnng," Natsuki mumbled. "I'm just cold. Been feeling that way all afternoon."

She didn't get it. It hadn't been cold in the morning, and the school had pretty good heating, and no one -else- looked uncomfortable, and yet here she was, sitting here shivering.

For a few moments Natsuki didn't hear anything but some scraping noises. Then she nearly yelped as she felt an arm settle around her shoulder.

"I'll help you warm up!" Sayori announced, having dragged her chair over next to Natsuki. And of course she'd brought her snacks with her.

On any other day, Natsuki might have protested this abrupt invasion of her personal space. As it was, she still considered it. But there was something strangely comfortable about it... and more importantly, Sayori was warm. It was the first time in hours that she hadn't felt the need to hide under a pile of blankets. So, for the moment at least, she stayed quiet, and just leaned in, trying to soak up a bit more of that warmth.

Aware of none of this, Sayori resumed eating. Opening packages was a little tricky this way, but she was still very hungry and very determined to do something about it, so she managed to work her way through the snacks at an impressive pace.

Natsuki, lacking anything better to do (or at least anything that wouldn't require moving) watched Sayori eat, a bit astonished at the sight. She wasn't always the neatest eater, but this was something else entirely. There was even a line of saliva that had escaped her mouth and was running down her cheek.

_And it smelled really good..._

Suddenly, Natsuki realized that her face was much closer to Sayori's than it had been. And that she was licking that side of Sayori's face clean. She jerked backwards in surprise.

Sayori stopped eating, turning to look at her with a slightly quizzical expression.

"Ah-!" She should probably apologize, but Natsuki was still shocked about having even been doing that. And that she wanted to do it some more. And that Sayori's face was getting closer again even though Natsuki hadn't moved and if this was what she thought it was she wasn't doing anything that might make Sayori change her mind and-

-And their lips met. She tasted sugar that had stuck to Sayori's lips. The hand Sayori had behind her back went from holding to caressing, while her other hand had moved up to tug at the top button on her blazer. Natsuki wasn't holding back either as she tugged Sayori's shirt out of her waistband, wanting to get her hands on the other girl's skin as quickly as possible. She felt her breathing becoming ragged as Sayori's teeth grazed against her upper lip, and-

-And Sayori pulled back and said "Oh, hi Monika. Did you want to join us?"

Natsuki twisted her head around and saw Monika standing frozen in the doorway, a blush spreading over her face as she processed Sayori's words.

Then, without saying a word, she left the room, stumbling at first as she broke into a run.

Turning back to the girl in her arms, Natsuki could see a hint of disappointment overtaking the earnest smile on Sayori's face. There was a part of her that said she should be annoyed at Sayori making that kind of offer, when they - well, what were they, another part of her asked. She'd never thought Sayori was interested in her, or vice versa for that matter, and yet here they were. More important, though, was that their ever-serious club president would probably look really cute with both of them running their hands (and mouths) over her body, and it was too bad that she apparently wasn't interested.

Still, the whole thing reminded her that they were technically here for something else, and that they should probably stop.

"We should probably stop," Sayori said, echoing Natsuki's thoughts.

Natsuki didn't -want- to stop. The chill she'd been feeling throughout her body before had been replaced by a different and much more localized heat. And twitching. And even if she wasn't quite what she'd call wet, she was definitely feeling noticeably moist. But unless she wanted to just skip the club meeting entirely, she didn't have much of a choice. "Yeah," she grumbled.

The two disentangled themselves. Natsuki rebuttoned her blazer and adjusted her tie, while Sayori tucked her shirt back in. She still looked a bit disheveled, but then she usually looked a bit disheveled, so it didn't really stand out. Then she started picking up the wrappers that had gotten knocked to the floor while they were making out, and Natsuki grabbed a manga from the closet.

It didn't provide as much of a distraction as she'd hoped, but it wasn't long before Monika came back anyway. Apparently she'd decided to pretend that she hadn't seen them doing anything, because she didn't say anything about it or even give them any funny looks.

***

Natsuki was getting frustrated. Neither time, nor her reading material, nor conversation had done anything to change the fact that she was feeling horny as all hell. Normally she enjoyed spending time with the other club members, even if they were just chatting about random things, or quietly passing the time with their own reading. But right now she could really use some time to herself.

"Hey, Natsuki!" Sayori called out. "I'm gonna go get some supplies from another classroom. Want to come with me?"

That didn't sound any better to her than sitting around here, and Natsuki was about to brush her off, but before that she looked up and saw Sayori licking her lips. It was subtle, and Sayori probably didn't even realize she was doing it, but the desire was obvious on her face.

Ohhhh, Natsuki thought. She wants us to 'go get some supplies' together.

That was an entirely different and far more appealing proposition...

***

"This one should be good," Sayori said.

Natsuki wasn't sure why Sayori was leading her to this -particular- classroom, but figured that if she thought it would be unoccupied, she probably knew better than Natsuki would. She wasn't very big on exploring the school in the afternoons when she could be reading manga instead.

Shortly after they got through the door, Sayori turned back around, stopped, and stared at it. "I thought these doors could be locked from the inside..." she mused.

"Just stick a chair under the handle," Natsuki suggested, leaning against a desk. She didn't really want anyone walking in on them again. Or at least, not most people.

Sayori did as she'd been told, then came back over to Natsuki and started running her hands up the outsides of the other girl's thighs. Natsuki was a little startled when Sayori actually grabbed hold of her and lifted her up onto the edge of the desk, but unhesitatingly leaned back, letting more of her weight rest on her arms - and making it much easier for Sayori to slide her panties off. She didn't waste any time before diving right in, licking Natsuki like she was an ice cream cone.

And Natsuki meant that literally - she'd watched Sayori attack a triple-scoop cone before, and the long, fast licks along the entire length of her labia seemed just like that.

It... didn't really feel very good. Still, Natsuki felt the tension she'd been feeling relax. She'd _needed_ this. And it seemed to be settling something inside Sayori too, who was slowing down and paying more attention to finding her sweet spots. She let one hand brush through Sayori's hair, not pressing hard but simply urging her on, the other still gripping the side of the desk to keep her from falling backwards.

It wasn't long before Natsuki was holding onto the desk with both hands, her breath coming in short pants, anything else she might have wanted to do with them being overtaken by the need to avoid falling backwards in a boneless heap. It'd never felt this good when she was doing it by herself, and she'd had a long time to practice.

When Natsuki came, she came quietly, years of living in a house with thin walls having conditioned her to suppress the sounds of her pleasure as much as possible. There were still signs; a short gasp leading into silence as she unconsciously held her breath, the way her eyes scrunched up suddenly, they told Sayori that her friend had reached her peak.

As Natsuki opened her eyes, she saw that Sayori had stood up and come around to one side of the desk, and was smiling at her cheerily.

"That was delicious!" Sayori exclaimed.

Natsuki couldn't help it, she started giggling. It sounded absurd, yet it was such a very Sayori thing to say in a moment like this. "Thank you?" she offered. It wasn't like she'd done anything on purpose to taste one way or another, so what was she supposed to say to that?

"I'd better get the supplies now, if we're gone too long the others might worry," Sayori continued.

Wait, that hadn't just been an excuse to get out of the room?

Sayori went over to the closet and was contemplating the shelves full of unlabeled boxes when she felt Natsuki's body pressed up against her back.

"Hey, you're going to make me feel like a jerk, just going off like that," Natsuki said, mock-grousing. "Let me do it for you too..." She slid a hand under Sayori's skirt and inside the waistband of her panties, caressing her ass. And that's when she found something that surprised her.

When one finger dipped a ways between Sayori's buttocks, she felt something wet. Wet, and very, very slippery.

Oho, thought Natsuki. So our sweet little Sayori has some kinks, does she?

After all, she hadn't had any time to slip away since coming to the clubroom, so she must have lubed herself up well before she'd have had any expectation of doing anything with Natsuki. Maybe she'd even been like this all day... was this fulfilling a fantasy for her? The thought had Natsuki even more excited as she gently slipped a finger inside.

"Haaaah..." Sayori moaned, grabbing onto a shelf to hold herself upright.

Natsuki hadn't been sure what it would be like, fingering someone's ass, but it hadn't been anything like this. It felt surprisingly hot inside Sayori, and strangely smooth, and as she gently slid her finger in and out it seemed almost like it was trying to pull her in.

So she added another finger, and a third not long after that, to Sayori's vocal (albeit wordless) enjoyment. She got the feeling that more would be entirely possible, but she didn't want to go overboard, and besides she was running out of fingers. Instead, she simply continued thrusting as she was, enjoying the feeling of Sayori's muscles squeezing her fingers and feeling the taller girl writhing against her.

Afterwards, Natsuki carefully extracted her hand from Sayori's underwear, careful to avoid making a mess of her clothes. For a moment she examined the clear fluid that her digits were soaked in, and felt an urge to lick them clean. But considering where they'd been, that'd be gross, right? So she grabbed a tissue and cleaned them off with that instead.

***

That evening, Sayori stood in her home's living room and sighed. Even after as long as it'd been, the house still felt unpleasantly empty sometimes.

She wondered how her parents would have felt about her relationship with Natsuki, whatever it was exactly. After having some time to think about it, she'd realized that the whole situation was a bit strange, even if there wasn't much she could imagine doing differently.

The doorbell rang.

She went to open the door, and found Natsuki standing there, hefting a largish duffel bag.

"Hey, Sayori," Natsuki asked. "Can I stay here with you?"

***

It didn't take long to install Natsuki's things in the guest bedroom, though Sayori was under no illusions that Natsuki would actually end up sleeping there. She could still feel the desire building up inside her whenever they got too close, even if the inexorable _need_ from that afternoon was missing. She suspected they would both end up in the master bedroom soon enough; luckily she'd cleaned and replaced the sheets recently.

Still, that meant she probably shouldn't wait to bring this up. "Hey, Natsuki?"

"Yeah?"

"This afternoon... it felt good so I don't really mind, but anal is kind of strange, isn't it?" she said, tenting her fingers together. "So I think I'd rather not do that again."

Natsuki didn't say anything, just stared at her.

Oh dear. Sayori felt herself getting flustered. "But if that's something you're really into, we can still do it sometimes!"

Natsuki's lips were moving now, but no sound came out.

"Like I said, it wasn't bad, it's just not something I'd want to do all the time, and..." she trailed off.

Finally, Natsuki found her voice. "Huh?!?"

**Delightful Disingenue**

_"Do you ever make tea for yourself, Chris?" Yuri asked._

_"Ah... sometimes," Chris replied. "But it's never come out as well as yours does."_

_Yuri hummed to herself for a moment. "Would you like me to give you some tips?"_

_"Of course! If you wouldn't mind that is..."_

_"It's no trouble at all," Yuri said, smiling softly. "Obviously, the water quality is important. Luckily, the water here is quite good, so I don't have to bring in bottled water to use."_

_Chris nodded._

_"And then there's the temperature. Many people don't realize it, but using water that's too hot can be just as bad as too cold. The kind of oolong tea I make for the club is best with water around 200 degrees, and some black teas need it even hotter. But green teas need cooler temperatures, 160 or even 140 depending on the variety."_

_"I see." He had, in fact, not known about that. Maybe that explained some of his trouble. How hot had he gotten the water, anyway? He hadn't used an electric kettle, just one that went on top of a stove, so it was impossible to tell..._

_Yuri's voice interrupted his musing. "And then there's my secret ingredient."_

_Huh? "What's that?"_

_"A secret, of course. But... I guess I can tell you, since you're a member of the club."_

_"If you're sure..." Chris hadn't heard of anything like this before, but it sounded important to Yuri._

_"Of course. After boiling the water, but before adding the tea leaves, I carefully stir in a teaspoon of the blood of my enemies with every pot."_

_He couldn't have possibly heard that correctly. "D-did you say blood??"_

_Yuri nodded as she pulled out a small glass jar full of red liquid, smiling brightly._

_Chris felt his stomach lurch as she tilted the jar, the fluid inside moving only sluggishly and sticking to the sides of the container. He'd- he'd been drinking-_

_And then he realized Yuri was laughing at him._

_Okay, she was softly going 'fufufu' with a hand in front of her mouth, but given Yuri's reserved demeanor, that was probably about like Sayori laughing so hard she couldn't talk._

_"I'm sorry," she said, "I just wanted to see what it was like, and none of the others would have believed me."_

_Then she started laughing again, though she seemed to be trying to bring it under control._

_"What is that stuff?" he asked, still feeling a bit disturbed._

_"This?" Yuri replied, shaking the jar again. "Just some corn syrup with a bit of food coloring added." She grinned. "You wouldn't want to put it in your tea either."_

_He sighed, and wondered if any of the things she'd told him had been accurate._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the original plan for this story, this would have been the first chapter, with only a bit of the Monika perspective framing it. As I developed the idea further, I decided to expand Monika's side considerably, showing the whole first playthrough from her perspective before going back and filling in. I think it'll probably be better that way in the long run, since I figured out a lot of things in the process.
> 
> moist - Crush Crush fans, this one's for you.
> 
> our sweet little Sayori - Yes, Sayori's the bigger one, but no one ever talks about "our sweet big $NAME", now do they?
> 
> I'd rather not do that again - Bet no one was expecting that!
> 
> water that's too hot - When I first came up with this, I didn't have any actual 'tea tips' to use. I just thought "maybe water that's too hot is bad", but then I did some searching and found that in fact that's a real thing. Everything Yuri says before the 'secret ingredient' is based on things I found on tea websites, and is at least intended to be accurate. (Also, if those sites are correct, the 200 degrees that Yuri mentions in DDLC is in fact appropriate for some oolong teas.)
> 
> corn syrup with a bit of food coloring - Seem to be the main ingredients in some actual recipes for fake blood.


	4. Discerning Divigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one's actually asked, but I'm kind of worried people might have the wrong idea, so I'm saying this now: Sayori's depression or lack thereof is a plot point and we will be returning to it later.

**Playthrough 1 - Thursday Evening**

"Sayori?"

Sayori continued in her attempts to explain why it was fine, really, for Natsuki to do anal with her (but please don't), which had become less and less coherent over the last five minutes.

"Sayori."

Natsuki was starting to find it a bit disturbing.

"SAYORI!"

"Or if- huh?"

"Calm down, okay? If you don't want to do something, then we won't do it. I don't want to be that kind of person," Natsuki said.

Sayori spent a moment just taking that on board before sitting down next to Natsuki with a sigh. "Sorry," she said.

Natsuki sighed herself. She wasn't sure what was going on here, but she thought she'd better speak up before Sayori got the wrong idea. "Besides... I only did that because I thought it was what _you_ were into."

Sayori frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you were... you know, all lubed up already." And because being able to relax so quickly and easily seemed unlikely without a lot of practice, but Natsuki decided things were already weird enough without bringing that up.

"But I didn't do that," Sayori protested.

"Self-lubricating anuses only happen in bad fanfic, so I thought I knew what it meant," Natsuki replied with a shake of her head. "But if you didn't and I didn't... What does that even leave?"

Sayori thought about it for a moment before she abruptly jumped up from the couch and went off towards the bathroom.

Natsuki raised an eyebrow at this, but she had a pretty good idea what Sayori had in mind.

A few minute later, Sayori came back, her brow furrowed. "I don't even _feel_ it unless I'm touching it with my hand... and if I wipe it off it's back a moment later."

"This doesn't make any sense," Natsuki replied as she shifted over to lean against the other girl. If Sayori was just constantly dripping that would have been incredibly obvious and enormously inconvenient, but at least it wouldn't seem so unnatural.

Sayori put an arm around Natsuki, but didn't otherwise reply, lost in her own thoughts.

They both remembered the health teacher saying things about "your body will change as you get older", but this had definitely not been on the list.

***

But even after discovering strange and unsettling things about one's own body, the basic routines of life continued.

Sayori had some leftovers that made an acceptable late dinner for the two of them, though if Natsuki was going to stay for an extended period of time they were going to have to discuss how to handle meals and other chores. And though she hadn't said anything too specific yet, it was obvious that Natsuki was hoping for exactly that. (For her part, Sayori definitely liked the idea of having some company again.)

After dinner, Natsuki had some unfinished homework that she polished off, while Sayori read a couple more chapters of _Towards a Softer Sky_ and kibitzed.

And soon enough, it was time for bed...

***

If she'd thought about it, Sayori would have been a bit surprised to find herself alone in her room, changing for bed.

"So you're still using the same room?" Natsuki called from across the hall.

"Uh huh," Sayori replied. "I still think of my parents' room as theirs, so it feels weird, and I don't like the lighting in the guest room, so why change anything?"

"The sun's not gonna wake me up three hours early, is it?"

"Not like that," Sayori said, shaking her head reflexively even though she knew Natsuki couldn't see her. "It's the overhead fixture my dad put in that bothers me."

Natsuki either didn't respond to that or didn't do so loudly enough for Sayori to hear, and so she finished changing into her nightclothes in silence. But silence didn't seem nearly so bad, knowing that she wasn't alone in the house anymore.

With that thought in mind, Sayori turned to the door to go wish Natsuki good night, only to stop right in her tracks immediately.

Natsuki, it turned out, had changed out of the clothes she was wearing before, but she'd neglected to put anything -else- back on. "I never really thanked you properly for this afternoon, did I?" she asked.

The lust that had been kept in abeyance first by unsettling discoveries and then by more mundane needs slammed into Sayori like a freight train. For now, the only question on her mind was whether or not she could get her nightclothes back off before Natsuki reached her.

***

Natsuki moaned with pleasure. "Sayori, why do you taste so _good_?!" she asked incredulously, not actually waiting for an answer before diving back in.

"I-it's not on purpose, I-nnhaaa!"

***

At some point, they'd made their way across the hall to the guest room, with it's somewhat larger bed. Natsuki, fatigued from her impromptu relocation, had already fallen asleep, clinging to Sayori like a vine wrapping around a tree.

Sayori herself was still awake, though she didn't expect to stay that way much longer. For the moment, she was just thinking over the events of the day.

There had been strange parts, and surprising parts, and things she still didn't understand...

But all in all, she decided as she idly ran a finger along one of Natsuki's hands, it was still the happiest she'd been in a long time.

"murzaq", Natsuki protested incomprehensibly, still mostly asleep.

Chuckling softly, Sayori pulled the sheets up over them before letting her own eyes slip shut.

***

The next day began similarly to the previous one, at least from Sayori's perspective. Natsuki had gotten moving a bit faster than she had and made breakfast for both of them, but there wasn't anything unusual about it.

For Natsuki, the difference was more dramatic. No getting woken up by a hungover man banging into things, sitting at the table with someone who actually seemed to appreciate having her around... they were small things, but they added up.

School itself, on the other hand, hadn't changed much. After all, they didn't share any classes this year, so they usually didn't even see each other until club time.

When she'd reached the clubroom today, she'd ended up grabbing the odd one out in her manga collection, a volume of some harem comedy she'd gotten for free from a promotion. She hadn't liked it, but hadn't been able to convince herself to throw it out either.

She was starting to view certain aspects of the story in a new light, given how the past day had gone.

"And then he just- right on top of-" Sayori gasped before giving up and just collapsing on top of her desk, laughing too hard to continue talking.

Natsuki had to admit that the company also added a lot to the experience. And she supposed it was probably easier to find the humor in a manga like this when you hadn't seen the same kind of plot play out a hundred times before. But there was nothing wrong with enjoying someone else's enjoyment, right?

***

When it came time to figure out what everyone was doing for the festival, Natsuki already had a pretty good idea what her job was going to be, Monika's words only confirmed it. But Sayori asking to help her out instead of what she'd originally planned took her completely by surprise.

She supposed it made sense, she was going to have to use Sayori's kitchen anyway, unless she wanted to go back home to bake everything (and she didn't really), but that didn't mean she wasn't touched by the gesture. Maybe she got a little too exuberant on her way out of the clubroom, but her head was already filling with visions of the baking to be done, and she wanted to get out there and buy the ingredients right away.

***

"You're not using box mixes?" Sayori asked. She'd stopped next in the aisle next to them, only to be surprised as Natsuki walked right on by.

"Ehhh... if I were doing it all myself, I might have," Natsuki replied, sounding a bit embarrassed at the admission. "They aren't as good, but they're a lot faster. Since you'll be helping though, I can do things properly."

"I've never made any kind of cake from scratch though," Sayori noted.

"It'll be fine. There's plenty of stuff that doesn't need any special skills that I can walk you through, and I can handle the tricky bits." Natsuki frowned at the contents of a shelf. "Sayori, do you have any vanilla extract at home?"

"I don't... think so?" Sayori wasn't really sure herself, but she couldn't remember ever using any. "What do you use that for?"

"Everything," Natsuki replied. "We'll have to try another store..."

***

In the end, it took visiting three different stores to find all the ingredients Natsuki wanted, plus a trip back to the first place to get some of the heavier or more perishable items. Add that to the groceries Sayori wanted to pick up, and they had quite a load, but between the two of them it wasn't so bad.

What did have her concerned, however, was the way Sayori had unhesitatingly paid for everything. She knew her friend wasn't always the best at managing her money, and sometimes ended up begging for snacks or scavenging for lost change when she ran out of something before the next check came in. But she hadn't looked worried at all today, and that had Natsuki worried.

Finally, after they'd gotten home and started putting everything away, she decided to just ask straight out. "Hey, Sayori? Is it really okay for you to have bought all the baking stuff? After all..." she said before trailing off, realizing that even though Sayori's periodic moments of financial panic were no secret to the other club members, it still felt mean to come out and say it.

Thankfully, Sayori understood the question and didn't seem bothered by it, pulling out her wallet and checking inside. "It's fine, it's fine. See?" she said, holding it out so Natsuki could see inside. "All good."

That was a relief, but also left Natsuki more confused than before. She wasn't sure, but that looked like about the amount of cash Sayori usually had right -after- she got a check, not shortly before. But she already felt like she might have pried a bit too much. "You should probably save those receipts and give them to Monika anyway," she offered instead. "I'm pretty sure she's supposed to have access to some funds from the school for club activities."

"Mmm hmmm," Sayori replied, the sound a bit echoey from inside the cabinet she'd started rooting around in. A few moments later she pulled out a stand mixer that was a bit small but looked like it'd been well cared for. "Do you think you'll want to use this?" she asked.

Well cared for other than the thick layer of dust coating it, that was. "That should... come in handy," Natsuki choked out.

***

That was how they got their main activity for Saturday, making sure that they had everything they needed and that it was all clean.

Of course, there was homework to do as well. Most of their teachers understood that everyone would be busy with festival preparations, and so gave out less homework for the weekend, but there was a big difference between "less homework" and "no homework". And their math teacher didn't even go that far, the jerk.

And at night, they ended up together in the guest bedroom again, just as they had earlier that afternoon.

***

Then Sunday came, and it was time to get down to business. Everything except some of the cold ingredients had been set out on the kitchen table, so everything would be easy to find when it was needed, and then Natsuki got to work. Sayori watched as she picked up one of the mixing bowls, a bag of flour, and...

Sayori rubbed her eyes. For a moment she'd been sure she'd seen Natsuki pick up more things than she should have had free hands for before taking them over to the counter, but that was ridiculous. She must have made two trips.

"Hey, come over and whisk this stuff together," Natsuki ordered.

"Don't we have the mixer for that?" Sayori asked.

"Not the dry stuff, it'd end up everywhere," Natsuki replied with a shake of her head. "I'll get the wet stuff going while you're doing that, and then we'll start combining them in the mixer."

Sayori shrugged, accepting that Natsuki knew what she was talking about, and got to it.

As the afternoon went on, and the kitchen grew messier, there were a few other events that stood out as odd in Sayori's mind. Mostly just more times when Natsuki seemed to set down more items than she could have reasonably picked up, but then there had been the time with the stove too. Sayori had been about to warn her that the front right burner had a bad igniter, so she couldn't use that one, but then Natsuki had poked it again and it started anyway. Maybe you just had to have the touch?

Then, as they got almost to the point where there wasn't really anything left for her to do, Sayori had an idea.

***

Natsuki looked over her and Sayori's work so far with satisfaction. The cupcakes were out of the oven, and they looked and smelled great. The frosting was off the stove, and just needed to cool for a while before they could get to the fun part - the decorating.

She'd just finished clearing a space and setting out a few smaller bowls to divide the frosting into when she heard a shriek of pain and indignation from behind her.

Whirling around, she saw that for some reason Sayori had stripped down to her panties, come over behind Natsuki, and spooned a dollop of still extremely hot frosting over her chest.

Natsuki quickly grabbed a wet sponge from the sink and wiped most of the frosting off, then ran some water over a clean cloth and carefully cleaned off what was left. "What was that about, you goofball?"

"Ah," Sayori said with a wince. "I thought I could go 'ah, I'm so covered in naughty juices' or something, but I didn't think it'd be that hot..."

Natsuki sighed. "You know we're both girls, right?"

"Are you saying none of the games you've talked about having to hide that you were playing had scenes like that?" Sayori asked.

"Um, no," Natsuki replied as she pulled the cloth away and examined Sayori's skin, for once with no lustful thoughts in her head. "It doesn't look like you got burned... you're pretty lucky."

Sayori did not miss the ambiguity in Natsuki's response, but decided to let her have the evasion. She was pretty sure she knew the answer anyway. "Yeah, it doesn't even hurt anymore."

"Sheesh, you shouldn't do things to make me worry like that," Natsuki mumbled as she took the cloth back to the sink to rinse out. But before she got very far, she was surprised again as she felt Sayori's arms wrap around her from behind and the other girl give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Wha-what was that for?"

"Thanks for caring about me," Sayori replied.

Why, Natsuki wondered, after everything they'd already done together, would this be the thing that made her blush?

***

Natsuki would have to admit if pressed that she was exaggerating a little. But it would definitely be a lot _easier_ keeping her hands off Sayori for the entire festival this way. And besides, no one else was going to be here this early anyway, they had time.

She quickly learned how wrong she was about that when Sayori greeted Monika.

After a moment of not hearing words or movement from behind her, Natsuki turned around. The club president seemed frozen in place, but she didn't look offended or indignant (well, maybe she'd come on a bit too strong), nor did she look interested (too bad).

Monika looked scared.

Natsuki was about to ask w-

**Determined Dabbler**

_Yuri would be the first to admit that she didn't know as much about baking as Natsuki did. But she'd had time to look for tutorials online and access to what she could only consider an excessively stocked kitchen, and she felt she'd done well for herself in the end._

_It did seem like an awful lot of cake for a party with only twelve guests though._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was disconcerted to realize I had both Natsuki and Sayori exclaiming over how the other tasted, even if the reasons for it are entirely different. (And it's far more of an ongoing thing in one direction than the other, for reasons.)
> 
> only happen in bad fanfic - Is this what they call "Take That, Me"? Er, actually it's more inspired by when I used to hang out in a couple different fic rant communities, and it was a common complaint. Usually about fic pairing up two male characters, mind you...
> 
> Towards a Softer Sky - Figure out which fanfic inspired my made-up book titles, win no prize!
> 
> some harem comedy - While this is not necessarily supposed to be any particular real-world manga, I was definitely inspired by To LOVE-ru. A manga which, though I'm very fond of it, can be a bit much sometimes.
> 
> not using box mixes - Natsuki and the MC are definitely making the cupcakes from scratch in the game, but I think it's a reasonable possibility that when making large quantities without a helper she might take some time-saving measures. Even if she doesn't like it.
> 
> a bad igniter - A bad igniter on a gas stove can be very dangerous, because even if the gas isn't ignited when you turn the burner on, it's not going to stop coming out. I'm not sure how common gas stoves are in Japan, but if they aren't, chalk it up to DDLC being full of anachronisms.
> 
> I didn't think it'd be that hot - I can say from experience that hot thickened liquids are really painful to get on you, because they'll stick where plain hot water can run off before all the heat transfers, and I'd be surprised if the risk of burns isn't higher as well. But Natsuki's just lucky, so that didn't happen.


	5. Disconcerting Dash

**Playthrough 2 - Tuesday Afternoon**

As usual, Natsuki and Yuri were already there when Monika arrived at the clubroom.

What was surprising was that Sayori was there as well, apparently having been describing something she'd seen on her way into school to the others before Monika's entry had interrupted her.

There was no one else in the room.

"Sayori? Didn't you say you were bringing a new member to the club today?" Monika asked.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Sayori replied, to Monika's increasing bewilderment.

And now that she looked, the place where Natsuki left the cupcakes she brought in for special occasions was sitting empty.

What would the player even see, if Sayori never invited the main character to the club? Had she broken something by not restoring Sayori and Yuri's attributes before restarting the game?

So she resorted to an old trick that all programmers eventually learn.

**> renpy.full_restart(transition=None, label="splashscreen")**

Restart it again and hope it behaves this time.

**Directionless Designator**

_It wasn't that she didn't know how to climb trees, but maybe she was a bit too timid for that. Most of the time. And with the weather the way it was, she was more comfortable in the shade anyway. It looked like a nice afternoon to take a nap..._

_Of course, that was before the mystery girl showed up. And Nora had been very insistent that anyone who didn't know their own name be brought to see her immediately._

_But that didn't mean they couldn't talk along the way, and she had to call the new girl_ something _, right?_

_"Shappo... no... Sofuto... no... ... ...but that's not very cute... Ah! I'll call you...!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I wasn't going to put playthrough 2 (such as it was) in it's own chapter, but I was convinced otherwise.


	6. Disassembled Destination

**Playthrough 3 - Tuesday Afternoon**

As usual, Natsuki and Yuri were already there when Monika arrived at the clubroom. And Sayori wasn't. So far, so good.

It wasn't long after that when Sayori swung the door open and announced "Everyone! The new members are here!"

And Monika got her first clue that things weren't quite back to normal when two girls she'd never seen before followed Sayori into the room.

"Isn't that sorta presumptuous?" asked the one with the reddish-brown hair. With her tan and athletic build, she looked more like someone who would be interested in one of the sports clubs than staying indoors with books and poems.

"She's like that sometimes," replied the altogether more outlandish creature next to her. "You get used to it."

Monika knew she wasn't the only girl in school who disdained the long white socks that were supposed to go with the uniform. Over-knee stockings like her own weren't even all that rare, comparatively speaking, especially during the winter. But yellow stockings with black spots - like a cheetah, maybe? - were quite a bit more startling.

But even that could have been overlooked if it weren't for the long furry ears on the blonde's head, and the tail poking out from underneath her skirt. And she'd just seen the tail move on it's own to not get caught in the door as it swung shut behind her, and the ears twitching at various sounds. So those were not just an eccentric's cosplay accessories she'd decided to wear to school.

As she listened to the others introduce themselves to the two new girls, Monika realized something about the blonde.

She was Chris.

Even before she actually said her name, Monika had recognized her. She was a bit shorter, and the shape of her face maybe a bit more feminine, but something about the lines of it still echoed the boy she used to be, and other than the color her hair was basically the same. Even her mannerisms hadn't changed much, once you allowed for the ears and tail.

What was going on here?

"Sayori, didn't you say you were bringing just one friend of yours today?" Monika asked. "Of course I won't complain if more people want to join, but I'm still surprised..."

"Ehehe, well..."

~~~

If she were being honest about it, Chris would have been quite happy finding a warm spot to curl up in and laze away the afternoon.

Of course, there was no way either of the girls with her right now would have accepted that. And while she might also have considered the anime club, that wasn't really an option either now.

"Is it all right if Koboshi comes too?" Chris asked. "She's an exchange student who just transferred in, so she doesn't know a lot of people yet."

"What, you're not asking me first?" Koboshi interjected, mock-annoyed. "Nah, I already asked around, and this place doesn't have a girl's baseball team, so I'm willing to give it a shot."

"Yay!" Sayori cheered. "I just know you'll both have a lot of fun in the club!"

"Yeah," Chris replied softly, "I'm sure we will..."

~~~

"I believe the school has a softball team," Yuri noted.

Koboshi shook her head. "It's just not the same."

"Come on, let's all sit down!" Sayori interjected. "We made space for two more at the table, so one of you can sit next to me, and the other can sit next to Monika."

Then, as Chris and Koboshi shared a look, apparently considering who would sit where, Sayori added "And I'll get the cupcakes," in a sly tone.

"You haven't forgotten that I made them, have you?" Natsuki asked.

"Eh, but I helped?" Sayori replied.

Natsuki laughed. "Okay, okay, just don't think you're getting any extras today."

And to Monika's surprise, Natsuki stayed in her seat while Sayori got up and went to get the cupcakes, with Yuri offering to make tea as usual. Visibly deciding to ignore this byplay, Chris took the seat next to where Sayori had been sitting, while Koboshi sat next to Monika.

When Sayori brought the tray over and Natsuki removed the foil from the top, the difference was obvious to Monika even if no one else would have noticed. Just as before, the cupcakes were decorated like little cats, but about a third of them had misshapen whiskers, or were otherwise a bit off somehow. Sayori had apparently had some false starts in translating her artistic skills to the unfamiliar medium.

Monika wasn't sure what to think about Sayori having been involved with making the cupcakes at all. Her previous modifications must have had lingering effects that she hadn't properly undone. That was concerning, but compared to what had happened to Chris it seemed like a minor issue. For now, she'd leave things as they were and try to figure out more about what was going on. And the cupcakes still tasted just as good, no matter what they looked like.

As usual, the conversation eventually turned to everyone's literary tastes, and Chris once again mentioned manga. At least some things hadn't changed.

"What are you following right now?" Natsuki asked.

"Well... since _Morning Broadcast_ ended I'd really only been getting _FaFiFroFra_..." Chris began, sounding hesitant at first, but getting more enthusiastic as she went. "But last month the store owner suggested I check out _Twenty-Seven Witches_ , and I liked it enough that I've started collecting that too."

Natsuki winced. "Ugh, all action series?"

"What do you mean, all action?" Chris asked, sounding incredulous. "Almost the entire first volume of 27W was about the main character's romantic life."

"Yeah, but starting from the third it..." Natsuki trailed off, reddening a bit. "You know what, never mind. I like that series too, anyway. But the prequels are complete trash."

Monika decided she'd better do something before the introductions got completely sidetracked. "And you, Koboshi?"

Koboshi scratched behind one ear before responding. "Maybe it's a bit stereotypical, but there's something about stories where people visit unusual and far-away places that really appeals to me. So I read a lot of science fiction, that sort of thing."

"Is that why you decided to become a foreign exchange student?" Monika asked.

"Ah... something like that," Koboshi replied.

As Yuri described her interest in horror, Monika noticed that Koboshi seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable, actually starting to sink down in her chair until Chris reached across the table and patted her on the hand.

Interesting.

***

Much to Monika's surprise, the changes in Chris didn't seem to have changed things too much for the club. Why no one else seemed to notice that the girl was part cat was beyond her, but other than Natsuki being a bit more comfortable around a new girl than she had around a new boy, it didn't seem like much had changed. Whatever the body looked like, Chris was still Chris.

Koboshi, however, had shaken things up considerably, from a completely unexpected angle.

Ultimately, Doki Doki Literature Club was a dating sim. Unattached boy joins group of girls, all of who are subtly or not-so-subtly interested in him, player picks one, romance happens. Change up the setting, swap the genders, alternate routes, bad endings, harems, there were a zillion variations, but the basic core was pretty stable and DDLC was a fairly generic and straightforward example of it. And on it's own, just adding another dateable character wouldn't have changed things much. Nor would Natsuki and Sayori's ongoing relationship stop the player from pursuing them, at least in principle, even if the game hadn't seemed to allow that before.

No, what had completely changed the dynamic of the club was that Chris and Koboshi were obviously a couple. And not one that seemed likely to break up and put things back on the normal track either; she didn't think either of them was a good enough actor to hide it if their relationship had that kind of tension. Not even if she was sure she'd seen Koboshi checking her out a couple times during gym class.

Everyone else knew it too. It was actually nice, not having to deal with any of those stupid arguments as Natsuki and Yuri jockeyed for position. But what did it mean for her own plans going forward? One thing was for certain...

**> ChrAnalyzer.analyze("koboshi.chr")  
No such file or directory: 'koboshi.chr'**

She wouldn't be able to use the same tricks that she'd tried before.

***

When the time came to make plans for the festival, Monika was already expecting something out of the ordinary to happen, she just wasn't sure what.

Sayori wanting to help Natsuki again was completely expected given what she knew now. Even if she hadn't actually noticed them sneaking off together during club time this week. She already knew Yuri would enjoy making decorations, so that was easy. As for the new members...

"And that leaves Chris and Koboshi," Monika said. "One of you could help Yuri, and-"

Koboshi cut her off. "Actually, Monika, we had something in mind already," she said before scratching behind her ear, something Monika had learned was a sign of embarrassment for her. "Um, if that's not too presumptuous, since we're the newest members and all."

"No, no, that's fine!" Monika replied hastily. "If you have an idea, we'd love to hear it."

"All right. When Sayori told me about the festival, it sounded like a lot of fun," Koboshi began. "But later I thought to myself, 'If we're a literature club, shouldn't we have some activities that cover a wider range of things, and not just poetry?'"

Chris picked it up from there. "After Koboshi mentioned that to me, we started looking around online and found instructions for some simple storytelling games. Since it mentioned using them for brainstorming or as writing exercises, I thought it'd be a fun way to show off the creative side of things for prose fiction."

Monika had to admit, they had a point. "That sounds like a great idea," she replied, nodding her head.

Although she wasn't looking forward to doing her part on her own.

Sayori apparently caught something from the look on her face. "Hey, Monika, what if I came over and helped you with the pamphlets on Saturday?" She then turned to Natsuki. "We'll be getting the ingredients today, and then doing the baking Sunday, so they don't get stale, right?" Natsuki nodded, and Sayori turned back to Monika. "So how about it?"

Monika smiled. "Of course. I'm really grateful that you'll be able to help me after all."

Sayori smiled back at her, then turned and gave Natsuki a look.

Natsuki gave Sayori a sort of "what are you looking at me for?" look back, but after a moment her face started turning red. Finally, she turned away, and said "Yuri? Do you want any help? I may not know atmosphere the way you do, but I can at least help cut up paper or whatever else you need."

Yuri opened her mouth, looking like she was about to say no. But then she paused, closed her mouth, and thought a bit longer, before replying, "Thank you, Natsuki. I'd appreciate that."

"Eh, it's not a big deal, I just don't have any plans for Saturday," Natsuki said, trying to downplay it, but it was obvious that she was happy.

It was pretty easy for Monika to sort out her plans with Sayori, since it was just confirming that Sayori would come over at the same time as they'd originally planned. Natsuki and Yuri had more to work out, and the two of them were discussing things when they left the clubroom, with Sayori following close behind. Chris and Koboshi left not long afterwards, saying that they were going to try to scrounge up some more supplies for their part of things.

And that just left Monika, who had a bit more paperwork that she ought to try and get done before heading out.

***

Monika up and stretched before going over to look out the window. The sun hadn't quite set yet, but it was getting close. She wouldn't be surprised if she was one of the only students left in the school at this point. Even the longer club meetings were usually out by now, though she thought she saw one of the sports teams still out there practicing. It wasn't unusual for them to keep going as long as there was still daylight.

Putting it out of her mind for now, Monika turned away from the window, grabbed her bag, and left the room. It didn't bother her, walking through quiet hallways like this. But as she approached a turn in the corridor, she realized that today there was something other than her footsteps breaking the silence. Without really thinking about it, she slowed down, peeking around the corner.

That was when she learned that what she'd heard was two of her clubmates. There was a small storage room here, and she could see Chris and Koboshi inside through a gap in the door.

"Mya... we shouldn't, what if someone comes by and sees us?" Chris said, panting.

In fact, Monika could see a lot more than it felt like she really ought to be seeing.

"It's fine, it's- haa-" Koboshi gasped. "Sayori said no one is ever up here this late, so..."

The light wasn't great, but she could tell that Chris had her skirt thrown up over her back and her panties pulled down, and was grinding her ass against Koboshi's crotch, the other girl having apparently doffed both of those articles of clothing entirely. Monika couldn't see either of their faces from this angle, but there was a certain obvious enthusiasm to the blonde's movements that made her think that the protest had been strictly pro forma. Or... was it more deliberate than that even, did the idea actually turn her on?

She should leave. She really, really, ought to leave. She shouldn't be watching Koboshi bracing herself with one hand while the other snaked under Chris's jacket to grope her chest, making her moan with delight. They weren't even trying to be quiet, were they?

Why wasn't she going? She... wait. What was that?

Koboshi had just pulled away from Chris, and... no. There was just no way. They'd shared gym classes! Changed in the same locker room! There was absolutely no way Koboshi could have a penis without Monika having noticed _something_!

Completely ignoring the fact that a key part of the process shouldn't exist, Chris spread her legs further apart to give the other girl easier access to her pussy, and the brunette slid her dick inside, holding it by the base at first to keep it pointed in the right direction.

Monika almost groaned aloud when she realized she'd thought the word "pussy" in relation to a literal catgirl, but managed to keep the sound from escaping her lips - or at least not enough came out to be heard over the sound of two bodies slapping together. Chris must be really wet for it to sound like that, Monika thought, though it wasn't like she had any experiences to compare it to.

If either of them said anything after that, it was too soft for Monika to hear, and after a while Chris twisted her head around to kiss Koboshi anyway. The position didn't look very comfortable, or maybe not like it should even be possible to bend quite like that, but it didn't seem to bother her.

Monika wasn't sure how long she'd stood there watching them, almost mesmerized by the sight in front of her. She couldn't have said if the time it took for Koboshi to come was fast or slow; she didn't have any basis for comparison. She just knew when it happened, saw the change in the tempo of their thrusts, then the semen dripping down Chris's legs after the other girl pulled out- wait, they weren't using a condom? Hopefully it was a safe day for Chris. Assuming they could even get pregnant together, with all the-

Wait. What was that?

"My turn," Koboshi whispered breathily. She was leaning back against one wall now. Monika could see her labia glistening with moisture, the somewhat unevenly trimmed pubic hair around them... and no sign of any male genitalia.

No. No. She didn't know what was going on, but what she did know was that she'd been standing here much longer than she should have been. She carefully shuffled backwards, then turned and strode hastily away once she was sure she was far enough that the noise of her steps wouldn't carry too far.

***

Sayori was right, Monika thought as she closed the door to the stall behind her. Not that Monika hadn't known it herself already, but the third floor really was deserted by this late in the afternoon. And if anyone did come by, she'd hear them opening the bathroom door well before they'd be able to hear her. It took only moments to lift her skirt up, pushing it under her cardigan to keep it from falling down.

And then she slid her hand inside her panties.

It wasn't like she didn't know what she was doing. She'd felt sexual arousal before. It wasn't the first time she'd masturbated either. And it certainly hadn't escaped her notice that her friends were attractive.

But there was a difference between knowing someone was attractive and actually being attracted to them. She'd never had those kind of thoughts about the other club members, not even after that strange encounter with Natsuki and Sayori.

But what she'd just seen seemed to have broken something loose inside of her, the whole experience seeming so much bigger and more immediate in her mind. And it'd certainly gone on for longer. At first, it was just the memory of what she'd seen, but it wasn't far from there to imagining herself in the scene. Or to imagine what might have happened if she'd thrown caution to the wind and agreed to that startling proposition a week ago. And if nothing even remotely similar had happened with Yuri, that didn't seem to matter. She was beautiful, and soft, and startlingly passionate when something got her attention, and for now that was more than enough.

Monika had absolutely never done this at school before. But she wasn't going to stop now.

***

Monika finished washing her hands, but instead of going on to dry them off like usual, she spent a moment just staring at her face in the mirror.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself, speaking aloud for the first time since leaving the clubroom.

Her reflection didn't seem to have an answer, but that was okay, because she didn't have one either.

***

Monika wasn't sure what to expect when Sayori came over. It wasn't that she thought the redhead might try anything, as such... but it certainly seemed possible that she'd ask. And Monika wasn't sure that, if that happened, she wouldn't say yes.

In the end, it didn't even matter. Sayori didn't make so much as a suggestive comment the entire time, and left as soon as the work was done. So she'd never know how she really would have replied.

In retrospect, her worries about how the player might react to sex in the game were unfounded, but instead she'd started considering a far more disturbing possibility - the player must be modding the game. It would explain everything.

In one sense, this was good. That indicated that the player was strongly invested in the game. She shouldn't have to worry about the player abandoning or uninstalling the game now. But on the other hand, an incautious change to the game could hurt or even kill her, and the player didn't even know why they needed to be careful. She couldn't even be certain that her own thought processes hadn't already been compromised.

But she had an idea. She knew that her experience of the game was different from what the player saw. Most importantly, she experienced the entire day even when the player only saw a few lines summarizing it. So she'd take the rest of the weekend, and even the day of the festival itself, and use that time to plan and prepare. Then she'd restart the game one more time, and she was done with any attempts at subtlety. This time, she was going to start talking directly to the player right away. It was a major step, and a risky one, but she couldn't risk putting it off any longer.

Sunday and Monday passed relatively quietly, though she felt a twinge of guilt at 'skipping school'.

**> delete_all_saves()  
>renpy.full_restart(transition=None, label="splashscreen")**

Even if it didn't really matter.

**Tuesday Morning**

Monika was used to going through the day's classes before the club meeting on autopilot.

It wasn't like it really changed...

***

As usual, Natsuki and Yuri were already there when Monika arrived at the clubroom.

So was Sayori.

And Chris. And Koboshi.

All five had been sitting around the table talking when her arrival halted conversation, with Sayori giving her a strange look before asking "Are you feeling all right today, Monika?"

Huh?

"Everyone was really worried when you weren't there for the festival," Sayori continued.

What?!?

"I'm afraid the event didn't go as well as we might have hoped," Yuri noted. "We all tried our best to handle things without you, but..."

Monika barely heard her.

"... so bad... other opportunities", Chris said.

She ran program after program, looking for answers, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

"... think a few... might come by next week", Koboshi added. "So I don't... complete failure."

Everything came back errors. No, not just errors, it was gibberish.

"I'm fine if... this group anyway," Natsuki replied.

Finally, she gave up on all the tools she'd created, and went back to the most basic commands. Starting, of course, with checking the status of the all-important .chr files.

**> os.listdir("characters")  
Directory is empty.**

...

...

...

"... maybe you should have taken another day off," Sayori mused.

Somehow she'd ended up sitting down at the table, with Sayori standing behind her pressing a hand to her forehead as though to see if she had a fever.

Natsuki pulled out a plastic container, and pushed it over to her. "Here, I saved you a cupcake."

Monika opened the container, and wasn't at all surprised to find a cupcake inside. It was frosted in green, with some sort of abstract design in white on top, and she quickly peeled off the liner and took a bite. The vanilla of the cake was intense without being overpowering, and the frosting had mint in it.

Her favorite.

"It's delicious," she said.

As she ate the rest of the cupcake, she took in the expressions on the others' faces.

Natsuki, pleased but not wanting to show it.

Sayori, still worried and not even trying to hide it.

Yuri, her spirits visibly improving.

Chris, smiling and looking for the bright side of things.

Koboshi, still the most mysterious to her, cautiously optimistic.

Monika realized she was crying.

She had a lot of really good friends, didn't she?

**Destressed Damsel**

_"Baker, baker! I- Huh? You're a...."_

_"Sarah!!"_

_"Kya?! ... ... Big sister, your arms are too tight... wait, why am I calling you..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a Pita-Ten fan, I need to mention that the Koboshi of this story is not based on the one from that series... or named after her, even. If you want a visual reference though, she's supposed to look kind of like Kasumi Tani from Hand Maid May.
> 
> activities that cover a wider range of things - It really is weird how little in the way of non-poetry group activities come up in the original game. This is not Doki Doki Poetry Club!
> 
> paperwork - I don't know how much of this the president of a school club would have to do in real life, but I can imagine it being a pain, particularly around major events. And anime always seem to show the student council having to deal with tons of paperwork...
> 
> the other snaked under Chris's jacket - It was around this point that I realized that when I'd been figuring out this scene, I'd been visualizing them as a lot closer to naked, even though them keeping most of their uniforms on had always been part of the plan. So I had to do some rethinking there. This is not the first time I've gone "Why does their uniform have so much stuff?!" when writing porn in this setting...
> 
> Assuming they could even get pregnant together - In fact, they could, but it would take additional steps. That's based on my interpretation of things in the relevant CYOA though, and not something it specifies.
> 
> Directory is empty - Not, of course, what that command actually returns. But hey, it's DDLC, sometimes you've got to take some liberties with your python.
> 
> abstract design - In the game, the MC comes up with the idea of putting words on the cupcakes. I didn't think there was any particular reason to think Sayori would have the same idea or Natsuki would come up with it independently, so they didn't.


	7. Declaring Details

If someone were to ask Sayori, she would readily admit that moving households was a thing she had only limited and indirect experience with at best. She'd lived in the same house all her life, and had no plans for that to change.

Still, it seemed to her like getting the rest of Natsuki's things ought not to have been as complicated a task as it was turning out to be. For instance, instead of just going in, they were currently hiding behind a fence, Sayori fidgeting with the pack she'd brought along for the purpose while Natsuki peered through a hole.

Sayori really hoped no one thought they were robbers and called the police on them. At least the neighbors should recognize Natsuki.

Especially if she did this on a regular basis...

"Okay, there he goes," Natsuki announced, straightening up as she pulled away from the hole.

At that point, they could walk around and enter the house like normal people. Sayori's relief held up for about as long as it took them to get up to Natsuki's room.

She could say it was a mess, but the word felt inadequate to truly capture the sight in front of her. There were loose item strewn across both the floor and the bed. The drawers on the desk stuck out at odd angles, and one had a shirt thrown over it. A heap of clothes hangars made a daunting hazard for anyone attempting to approach the closet. "Did your dad do this?" Sayori asked warily.

"No, this is how I left it," Natsuki said as she set down her own pack and started filling it. They'd found the large camping packs in the attic; between the two of them it should be enough to haul away everything that was worth the effort to grab. "I was in a hurry."

"I see," Sayori replied, following suit. She supposed that was believable, since she didn't see anything that was torn or broken. But she still felt pretty wary about the whole situation.

Natsuki sighed. "Look, my dad's not abusing me, okay? He just sort of checked out on being a parent after mom died. I keep my manga in the clubroom because he doesn't like it, and it's just easier not having to deal with that, not... whatever you three thought was going on."

"We weren't going to talk about it behind your back," Sayori protested. "But I'm glad it wasn't as bad as I thought."

Privately, she thought it still sounded pretty bad, but she was going to keep that to herself. Natsuki was getting away from it now, that was what mattered.

"Good," Natsuki replied. For a while after that, she remained silent apart from the assorted rustling noises as she continued packing. Then she added, "Sometimes I'm not sure how he manages to keep his job. Guess if he lost his job eventually he'd run out of booze, and he couldn't risk that."

"Uh huh," Sayori replied dubiously.

The work continued, though it sounded like Natsuki was moving slower and slower as time went on. Finally, she stopped entirely. "I wish I could have dad back the way he used to be," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I could never figure out how to make that happen."

Sayori dropped what she was doing and came around the bed to sit next to Natsuki, giving her a hug. As she did so, she sternly pushed the feelings Natsuki's nearness caused to the back of her mind. If Natsuki wanted some mood-boosting sex, they could do that when they were home. This wasn't the time or the place. "It's not your job to fix your dad," she said. "If he's going to change, that's something that he's got to decide to do."

"Yeah, I just..." Natsuki sighed, before suddenly blanching. "Oh hell, you're the last person I get to complain about this to. I'm s-"

Sayori put a finger over Natsuki's lips, cutting her off. "Just because I have problems doesn't mean yours don't matter, okay? You don't need to apologize for anything." Sayori looked around. She could tell they were making progress, but they still had a ways to go. "Come on, let's get back to work."

"All right..."

Sayori was about to stand up when her hand skimmed under the bed and she felt a book. Without really thinking much about it, she pulled it out and took a look at it. Then she froze in shock at what she'd found. "Natsuki... where did you get this book?"

"What book?" Natsuki looked over, and was similarly stricken when she saw what Sayori was holding. "I thought I'd dreamed that..."

There are certain expectations for tomes of arcane knowledge. Crackly, old-smelling paper, being covered in strange and unidentifiable leather, stuff like that. This book had none of that. Oh, it had the look of leather from a distance - until one looked closer and realized that it was a picture of leather printed on the unusually thick covers of what was otherwise an ordinary paperback book. A slightly peculiar choice except maybe for a fantasy novel, but nothing that made it really exotic. Both girls, though, knew immediately that there was something more significant about the item they'd found - even if they didn't remember why.

And stuck to the cover, hiding all but the beginning of the title ("LEGEND OF"), there was a jaunty yellow post-it note saying they could skip most of it.

Just hold the gem in your left hand and say 'install' to transform yourself...

As the two skimmed through the book, a conclusion rapidly became obvious to both of them, but Sayori was the first one to say it aloud. "We both did this, didn't we?" she asked.

"It would explain a few things," Natsuki replied, flipping back to one of the pages that had been marked with a scrap of paper, before getting up and going over to her desk.

Her desk lamp had been a gift from her grandmother, and had a lot of good memories associated with it. But it was also bulky, heavy, and fragile, and so she'd regretfully decided to leave it behind, at least for now.

She carefully unplugged the lamp and coiled up the cord before lifting it up - and storing it. To an observer it would look like it had just disappeared, but Natsuki knew she could bring it back to her hand with a thought. Until then, it would just sit there in, she didn't know, her _mind_ or something. "Well, that's convenient," she commented drily.

"I think I saw you doing that a couple times when we were baking together," Sayori said. "But I thought I was imagining things." 

She was going to have to try and figure out what things she'd chosen when they got home...

***

Monika looked up from the poem she was reading to see what everyone else in the club was up to.

Since the festival, poetry had taken a somewhat diminished role in their activities. Not everyone brought a poem every day, and today it was just her and Yuri, although the others would come over and offer their opinions in time.

Chris and Natsuki were sitting together by the window, reading a manga together. Judging from the "seriously?" look Monika had seen on Natsuki's face earlier, they were reading something Chris had brought in, but she seemed to be getting into it now.

Forming the third point of the triangle, Koboshi was showing Sayori one of the games that she and Chris had put together. It apparently involved a deck of cards with simple shapes and pictographs on them, which were laid out in a way that reminded Monika of a tarot reading. She couldn't see what cards Sayori had drawn, but it had apparently sparked something in the redhead's imagination, as she'd pulled out a notebook and was scribbling furiously.

This, Monika reflected, was what she'd always dreamed the literature club be. A haven for lovers of all forms of literature, sharing, creating, and consuming. And yes, she'd even accept manga - although she drew the line somewhere before visual novels. Still, there was one thing that one couldn't help but notice after spending enough time watching this group together...

"Sometimes this feels more like a dating club than a literature club," she observed to Yuri. "We're the only ones who aren't paired up."

Without missing a beat, Yuri replied "Would you like to have lunch with me on Saturday?"

As Monika palmed her face and groaned, she could hear Yuri giggling next to her. "You've become quite a tease lately," she observed. "How serious was that exactly?"

"I'm not actually asking you on a date," Yuri replied. "But I wouldn't mind spending more time with you outside of the club, if you're interested."

Monika thought about it for a bit, before replying "Yeah... I would like that."

***

Monika looked at the restaurant and wondered if she'd made a mistake.

Yuri had said that since she'd been the one to invite Monika, she'd pay for the meal. (Which actually did make it feel at least a bit like a date.) But this place looked a lot fancier than she was expecting. She'd known Yuri's family was rich, but a place like this for a casual lunch between school friends?

At the very least she wondered if she should have worn something nicer.

When Yuri arrived in a pale lilac off-the-shoulder dress, Monika really wondered if she should have worn something nicer, even if it wasn't that pretentious with it's short sleeves and loose, comfortable-looking style. At any rate, neither Yuri nor anyone else seemed to consider Monika's outfit worthy of comment as they went inside, so maybe she was just overthinking things.

She was pleased to find that the menu had a modest but varied vegetarian and vegan section. After considering her options she decided to order the vegan eggplant parmigiana, which sounded delicious even if the name was a bit bemusing.

The snag came when Yuri ordered a bottle of wine to go with their meal. "Really, Yuri?" she asked.

Yuri sighed. "Really, Monika, you and Sayori need to get over this. We're both over eighteen. Neither of us is going to be driving or operating machinery. We don't even have school tomorrow to worry about. You don't need to have any if you're not interested, but there's also nothing wrong with either of us choosing to indulge a little."

Monika thought about it. Nothing Yuri had said was wrong, she supposed. And she'd never seen Yuri show any signs of inebriation at school, so it seemed more reasonable to her than it would coming from someone who binge drank (and sadly, she had a few schoolmates who did). "... Maybe I'll try a little," she concluded.

When the wine arrived, she poured only a small amount into her glass before taking a sip.

She'd seen videos of people doing wine tasting, and wondered at how often someone would mention it tasting like something that was not, as far as she could tell, one of the ingredients. Wine wasn't made with chocolate, right? This wine definitely didn't taste like chocolate, but she found herself at a loss to describe the experience. It wasn't quite like anything she'd ever had before. But it wasn't bad, not at all.

She took another sip.

***

To be fair to Yuri, she did not set out to get Monika drunk. Rather, Monika made a mistake that has brought many novice drinkers low - she attempted to moderate her own intake by measuring it against someone more experienced.

Yuri's family was, as had been noted, rather wealthy. Formal or semi-formal meals where wine was served had been a regular event as she was growing up, and she'd been allowed small amounts now and then starting in her teens, under close supervision. As she grew up and proved herself capable of moderation, the supervision lessened and the quantities involved increased - but not excessively. And so, though she'd never drank enough in one sitting to suffer full intoxication, her overall consumption had left her with an impressive tolerance for a person of her age and build.

Monika didn't know all of that, but guessed some of it. She also knew she had less mass overall to work with, so she made sure to drink less than what Yuri was. However, neither of them had taken into account - what Monika could not have taken into account - was the effects of Yuri's not-exactly-human physiology.

And so, when Yuri had just about consumed enough to give a pleasant glow to the occasion... Monika was drunk.

Thankfully for both of their dignities, Monika wasn't a loud or violent drunk, though she was getting a little maudlin. So the situation wasn't so bad. At a discreet signal from Yuri, the wine was removed, and she encouraged Monika to drink plenty of water as she finished her meal. Between that and a little charm Yuri could do when they were in private, her friend should suffer no ill effects from the experience.

"-Natsuki an' Sayori humping like rabbits all over the school, Chris turned into some kinda -cat- and no one cares-" Monika punctuated her rant by gulping down some water. "Yer the only one who's normal, Yuri."

Yuri smiled and replied, "Not exactly."

"Huh?" Monika took another bite of her entree. "Hey, you know that parmigana means parmesan cheese? Why'd they call something that can't have cheese at all?"

***

When Monika woke up, she recognized where she was almost immediately - Yuri's bedroom was pretty distinctive. Figuring out how she'd come to be lying on top of Yuri's bed, her shoes removed but otherwise fully clothed, took significantly longer.

Her head didn't hurt, not even a little, but you wouldn't have guessed it from the sound she made after putting it together. Never again, Monika thought to herself. Nothing she could get out of drinking could possibly be worth this.

She took a little longer to collect herself before putting on her shoes and heading downstairs.

Yuri was sitting on the long white couch reading, but put her book aside when she saw Monika come down. She was still wearing her dress, but maybe that wasn't surprising. "Are you feeling all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Monika replied. "Thanks for taking care of me. And... sorry for ruining the afternoon."

Yuri shook her head. "I should have realized there was a problem sooner. Besides, I still enjoyed spending the time with you. And you did say one thing that was particularly interesting."

"I did?" Monika replied as she sat down next to Yuri.

Yuri nodded. "You said I was the only normal one in the club. But that's not really true."

"Oh?" Monika replied a little skeptically as she adjusted a cushion. Sure, Yuri's taste in jokes was sometimes startling, but she'd decided to just be happy the other girl was coming out of her shell a little more, and- "IYAAAAA!" Monika screamed as she leaped back from the exact duplicate of herself that had taken Yuri's place. Although they weren't quite mirror images... the other Monika was still wearing Yuri's dress.

A moment later, the faux-Monika shimmered and became Yuri again, her clothes resizing to fit in a rather disconcerting way. It was the first time Monika had seen Yuri look chagrined at a reaction she'd gotten - and somehow, Monika was still sure that this _was_ her friend, not some imposter. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have done that. I just didn't think you'd believe me without a demonstration."

Monika had to admit, that was probably true. "So you're a shapeshifter?" she asked. She wasn't sure it'd even be the weirdest thing to happen in the past couple months.

"There's a bit more to it than that," Yuri replied. "This is what I really look like now..." And she changed again.

Most of Yuri's body didn't change this time around, though Monika did notice the scars that had appeared on one arm. No, the surprising part this time was what had been added - a pair of purple and white furred ears, shorter and more triangular than the ones Chris had, and a long bushy tail, also in a purple a bit darker than her hair. When she'd shifted to avoid sitting directly on her tail, it had ended up draped over Monika's legs, making her shiver a little at the sudden touch. "Ah... kitsune?" she asked, still looking down at Yuri's tail in shock.

"Kitsune," Yuri confirmed. Then, noting where Monika's attention was stuck, she added "It's fine if you touch it, as long as you're gentle."

"Um... all right," Monika said, and carefully ran one hand along Yuri's tail (which was a really weird thing to contemplate), making sure to go in the direction of the fur. Somehow, it made her feel more relaxed, although when she looked up and saw that Yuri's eyes had slipped shut and she had a weird expression on her face... that was cause for a different kind of concern. "This isn't too weird, is it?"

Yuri's eyes opened. "No, no, it's fine. It feels good, but... it's not -too- good." Seeing that Monika was finished, she shifted back into her human form, and settled back into the couch with a sigh of relief. "I don't mind having a tail, but normal furniture isn't really made to handle it," she commented.

"I can see how that would be the case," Monika noted. "... This is really a lot to take in."

Yuri nodded, but didn't say anything right away. But after giving Monika a bit longer to think things over, she added "That actually wasn't the first time I'd used my powers to look like you. The day after I became a kitsune, I walked in on Natsuki and Sayori that way..." She trailed off, her face reddening.

Monika could certainly understand that reaction, given what they'd been doing when she'd walked in on them herself- wait a minute. That one time Sayori had asked if Monika had "changed her mind" - it wasn't the first time she'd made the offer - and Monika hadn't walked in on them before - but Yuri had walked in on them while looking like Monika - and that meant -

Yuri's expression had shifted into a slightly smug grin. "I thought you might have had something to do with it. The week that repeated itself."

Monika looked back at Yuri, feeling her eyes going wide. "You remember??"

"I didn't understand what was going on at first," Yuri mused. "But after the festival, I started putting things together. It seemed like someone from the literature club had to be involved. There were too many other strange things going on around us. You were the only one who didn't add up, who hadn't changed... because there was something unusual about you from the beginning."

"That's something you don't have to worry about. I can't do any of that stuff anymore," Monika said before letting herself fall over to the point where she was lying on her back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't know why everyone else changed, but... I still did so many stupid things," she moaned.

"I'm not so sure about that," Yuri said. Then, at a confused noise from Monika, she clarified. "About your abilities not working. I didn't stop being a kitsune even when the world reverted to two days before it happened, and even the person who transformed me forgot she'd done it. Power doesn't give up on you that easily..."

Monika looked up at Yuri, wondering why the other girl's words gave her such a feeling of hope.

"... You just have to figure out how to use it."

**Differential Duplication**

_daaa da da da daaaaaaa da da BEEP click-_

_"Hey, Natsuki?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Did Monika seem weird to you today?"_

_"Kinda. Didn't you invite that friend of yours already?"_

_"I thought so, but now I'm not sure... maybe I'd better check with her tomorrow just in case."_

_"I guess I can make cupcakes again tonight too. It's not like it's a big deal to do it now and then."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"Do you want to come over?"_

_"YES."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unusually thick covers - When I came up with this scene, I had a mental image in my mind based on a few books I own. Turns out it's what's called a "FollettBound" book, a high-durability design made specifically for libraries. Since I have a lot of ex-library books in my collection, this makes perfect sense.
> 
> a deck of cards - This was actually inspired by a product we had at my old store, "Rory's Story Cubes". Turning them into cards and doing something tarot-like with them are my own inventions, though I can't promise they'd actually work well.
> 
> she drew the line somewhere before visual novels - This is a shout-out to the "Take Two" mod, where the club gets a new member who posits that visual novels *are* literature.
> 
> vegan eggplant parmigiana - When I needed something for Monika to eat at a fancy place, I did some searching and found this recipe. I can't speak to what it tastes like since I a) can't cook, and b) loathe eggplant. According to google, "parmigiana" means "with parmesan", which of course wouldn't be vegan at all. I'm not sure that definition is accurate, but this is the explanation for Monika's bemusement and one of her later comments.
> 
> pale lilac off-the-shoulder dress - Based on this fanart of Yuri. I'll admit it, I went looking for a sleeveless dress specifically to show off her appearing and disappearing scars.
> 
> Wine wasn't made with chocolate, right? - Inspired by me having looked at the flavor descriptions on wine bottles at my old store and wondering where any of that was supposed to come from. As someone who lost interest in alcohol after discovering sparkling cider, it's something I'm probably not meant to understand.
> 
> allowed small amounts - This was inspired in part by my own history with wine served in the home, albeit amped up significantly - my family only had wine at certain major holidays, and I progressively drank *less* as I decided I wasn't really getting anything out of it. (Needing to be able to drive immediately was sometimes also a factor.)


End file.
